“The combination of the crimes you have committed and your attitude to these crimes both in this country and this court bring discredit on all of you in the dock and does a disservice to your fellow Roma who want to work hard in this country, improve themselves and make a positive contribution.”

He added: “The fact is that the defendants all came to this country with their families between five and 10 years ago and the majority are still teenagers.

“The acquisition of a new language is not difficult if you put your mind to it. They have not attempted to learn the language of the country of their choice.

“This inevitably extends the length of the trial and dramatically increases the cost of the offence.”

The gang’s Roma ringleader, Zdeno Mirga, 18, who was known as “the boss” or “Skinny”, was sentenced to 16-and-a-half years for eight counts of rape and one count of inciting child prostitution.

Hassan Abdulla, 33, an Iraqi Kurd who came to Britain in 2002 as an asylum seeker, was jailed for 20 years for four rapes and three counts of inciting a child to engage in sexual activity.

The judge said Abdulla had “repaid the debt he owes this country” by committing sex attacks as well as a previous incident of harassment.

Renato Balog, 18, a Roma, will serve 12 years for five rapes and three sexual assaults, and Jan Kandrac, 17, also a Roma migrant, will serve five-and-a-half years for one count of rape and two of indecent assault on a child.

The youngest member of the gang, a 14-year-old Roma who cannot be identified for legal reasons, was given a non-custodial six-month youth rehabilitation order for sexual activity with a child.

Judge Bevan singled out the gang’s treatment of a 12-year-old girl with “serious learning difficulties”.

She was repeatedly raped, with men and boys sometimes lining up to abuse her as a “sexual commodity”, he said, adding: “To you she was easy meat, a sexual plaything who no one cared about, no one cared for and who nobody would believe. Unfortunately for you, the jury did.”

Two other men and a teenage boy were cleared by the jury at the end of the trial in January.